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Teen lifers: From prison, Kwilson Coleman tries to focus on his young son

He says he wants to prove that he is not guilty, regardless of whether his case could be affected by a Supreme Court ruling about teens and life sentences.

By REBECCA LeFEVERDaily Record/Sunday News

Updated:
02/10/2013 06:58:09 AM EST

Eleven York County juveniles have been sentenced to life in prison without parole since 1974.
Many have spent decades in prison.
Any comfort the victims' families took from the sentence was threatened when, last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled a mandatory life sentence for a juvenile found guilty of murder is unconstitutional.
Will those York County teens -- now adults -- have a chance at parole? Some are asking for a second chance. (Illustration by Samantha K. Dellinger, York Daily Record/Sunday News)

Life, imprisoned

· Read about the effect in Pennsylvania of the Supreme Court's decision making it unconstitutional to have mandatory life sentences for teens who have been convicted of murder.

This is the story of one of those convicts now in limbo.

***

Kwilson Coleman, 21, has one reason for wanting to get out of prison. He wants to see his 4-year-old son beyond the concrete walls of a visiting room.

He has missed a lot since he was incarcerated in November 2008.

Coleman didn't go to his high school graduation.

He wasn't there when his grandmother died.

He wasn't there when his son was born. He hasn't been there for any of his birthdays.

"It's hard in here to support him, to be a real father," Coleman said during a meeting at state prison in Houtzdale, about a three-hour drive from York County.

That drive has made it difficult for Coleman to see his son -- who has to be brought by the boy's mother, Alexis Sparks. For a time, while Sparks was a minor, she had to visit Coleman with her mother, Joy Westry. It was a challenge for the two to coordinate their schedules, Westry said from her York home.

Coleman wants to get out of prison to see his son, but he also wants to prove his innocence, he said.

When he isn't writing or calling his son, he's working in the prison kitchen and then he studies in the law library -- looking for examples of cases similar to his own.

Coleman, accused of gunning down Gregory Wright in the 400 block of Prospect Street in York on Thanksgiving Day 2008, was found guilty in 2009 of first-degree murder. He was accused of shooting Wright after Wright accused Coleman's friend of stealing his cellphone, according to court testimony.

Wright's family could not be reached for this story.

Coleman claims he didn't do it. He wasn't even there when Wright was killed, he said.

During the trial, Wright's girlfriend testified that Coleman ran into a nearby home and came back, shooting Wright once in the leg and then four times when he fell to the ground.

While Coleman knows about the Supreme Court's ruling that sentencing juveniles to life without parole is unconstitutional, he hasn't really thought about it, he said. In his mind, he's innocent, and it's more important to clear his record than fight for parole.

The last time Coleman saw his son was in 2011, when Coleman was in York County for a court hearing.

Kwilson Coleman (Submitted)

Now all he hears is the boy's voice over the phone. He tries to show his Dad his toys.

"I have to act like I can see what he's holding," Coleman said. "Right now I'm just trying to keep myself together so eventually I really can see what he's trying to show me."

If he gets out, Coleman said, he wants to get his son out of York.

"The environment is everything," he said. "He needs to be in a place where he isn't surrounded by fights. Growing up there, it's like you're endangered by the people around you."

Coleman also doesn't want his son to grow up the way he did -- with a "distant family."

Coleman said he hasn't heard from or seen anyone in his family since he was sentenced.

His family could not be reached for this story.

Coleman's family life was tough, he said. If he goes free, Coleman said, he doesn't plan to rebuild that relationship.

"When you come to jail you see how people really are," Coleman said. "What can they do for me when I get out that they couldn't have done for me here?"

Westry agrees that Coleman had a rough life, but she never expected him to spend the rest of his life behind bars.

"When he was in my house he was respectful, he was polite," she said. "I can't say how he acted on the street, because I don't know. But in my house he was a good kid."

Westry knew Coleman since he was a child and Sparks became good friends with one of his sisters.

Sparks was shocked when she got a call that Coleman was arrested in Wright's death, she said.

"I didn't know what was going on at first," Sparks said. "Then we saw it on the news."

Coleman had been in prison for only two to three weeks when Sparks came to see him. She was pregnant.

"He was happy and surprised and scared, too," she said.

They took the baby to see Coleman a few months after he was born, Westry said.

Taking an infant on a three-hour car ride and then having to get through prison security can be a hassle, she said.

Guards check the baby's shoes and how much formula is brought in, and make him go through a metal detector.

"We do it for Kwilson," Westry said. "I know how much he needs to see his son."

But the relationship is difficult to maintain.

Even though Sparks said she doesn't plan on keeping a romantic relationship with Coleman if he were released, she wishes he were there for her son. She would like to see him on birthdays and holidays and to witness the boy's accomplishments.

Westry sends Coleman money for collect calls. About $25 gives them three 15-minute calls, Westry said. They write him. They send photos when they can.

"He is missed -- he's missed by a lot of people," Westry said. "I know it isn't just us. There are so many people that could use him now."

Life, imprisoned

In June 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to sentence a juvenile found guilty of murder to mandatory life in prison.
A new Pennsylvania law bans that sentence for convictions after June 24, 2012. But state courts haven't addressed whether or how that ruling could affect those already serving life without parole.
Some of York County's teen lifers want a second chance.

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